Taiwan’s Ma Yun-zhong and Huang Pin-chieh yesterday won gold in the mixed pair under-30 poomsae event at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Goyang, South Korea.
Their medal raises Taiwan’s gold tally to four, following Friday’s wins by Yeh Poh, Chiou Mu-en and Chang Chen-bo in the men’s under-30 team, Teng Wen-chih and Yang Chang-ying in the mixed 15-17 pair and Yeh Ping-hsuan and Chang Yu-chin in the mixed 12-14 pair events.
The men’s under-30 team beat the host country for the top prize in poomsae — a set of offensive and defensive patterns performed against imaginary opponents — while Vietnam and Indonesia won the bronze medals.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
“It was unbelievable,” 23-year-old Chiou told the World Taekwondo Web site. “We beat Team [South] Korea — in [South] Korea.”
The team won for displaying coordination in performing moves as a unit and good team chemistry, the World Taekwondo Web site said.
“All of us are individuals, we have different styles, but as a team, we needed to get rid of some of our specialties,” Chiou said. “We spent a lot of time developing the chemistry.”
The three teamed up on short notice to qualify at the national tryouts last month, World Taekwondo said.
Taiwan yesterday also won three silver medals: Liu Kuan-fu in the boys’ 12-14 individual event; Chang Yu-chin, Shen Chen-wen and Lin Yu-hsuan in the girls’ 12-14 team event; and Hsu Yu-jan in the girls’ under-17 individual freestyle event.
Friday’s silver-medal winners were: Lee Ying-hsuan, Li Chieh-yu and Kuo Yan-yu in the women’s under-30 team event; Yang Chang-ying in the girls’ 15-17 individual event; Chang Yi-hsuan in the girls’ 12-14 individual event; and the national team in the mixed over-17 freestyle category.
Germany forward Thomas Mueller on Thursday said that his country’s second successive first-round exit from the FIFA World Cup was an “absolute catastrophe,” which teammate Kai Havertz likened to “watching a horror movie.” Germany beat Costa Rica, but Spain’s defeat to Japan meant Germany finished third in Group E behind Spain, with the teams equal on four points and the positions decided only by goal difference. “It is unbelievably bitter for us because our result would have been enough,” Mueller said. “It’s a feeling of powerlessness.” Mueller was part of the 2014 World Cup-winning team and was also in the side who were
Taiwanese-American basketballer Jeremy Lin, who plays for a Chinese team, was fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) for “inappropriate remarks” on social media about quarantine facilities ahead of a game, the China Basketball Association said yesterday. Lin, who plays for the Loong Lions Basketball Club, made “inappropriate remarks about quarantine hotel-related facilities” where the team stayed on Wednesday ahead of a game, the association said. It said that “caused adverse effects on the league and the competition area.” The Chinese Communist Party is trying to crush criticism of the human cost and disruption of its “zero COVID-19” strategy, which has confined millions of people to
‘ASIA CAN WIN’: Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu said their victories at the tournament so far against top sides show that Asian teams can win on the world stage Japan erupted in cheers and tears after the national team’s 2-1 win over Spain, with crowds in the early hours of yesterday in the nation packing public viewing areas shrieking with joy as they stunned another global soccer power at the FIFA World Cup. Japan, who had also shocked Germany in their opener in Qatar, finished top of Group E to reach the last 16, a stage where they have faltered three times before. They are to play 2018 runners-up Croatia for a place in the quarter-finals. “Doha Delights Again!” one newspaper headlined its online edition, evoking memories of what the media called
Qatar’s top World Cup official on Tuesday said that more than 400 migrant workers died in labor accidents in the country in the years leading up to the tournament. Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of Qatari Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, gave the figure of 400 to 500 in a British television interview when asked how many workers had died “doing work for the World Cup.” The organizing committee said his response referred to “national statistics covering the period of 2014-2020 for all work-related fatalities” in Qatar “covering all sectors and nationalities.” It said there were 414 worker deaths over the eight-year period. Migrant
RSS